U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

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Unemployment in the states, June 2014

July 22, 2014

Mississippi and Rhode Island had the highest unemployment rates among the 50 U.S. states in June (7.9 percent each), followed by Nevada (7.7 percent) and Michigan (7.5 percent). North Dakota again had the lowest jobless rate (2.7 percent), followed by Nebraska, Utah, and Vermont (3.5 percent each).

In June, 17 states had unemployment rates that were significantly lower than the total U.S. figure of 6.1 percent, 8 states and the District of Columbia had measurably higher rates, and 25 states had rates that were not appreciably different from the national rate.

Six states had statistically significant over-the-month unemployment rate declines in June: Illinois (–0.4 percentage point); Colorado, Rhode Island, and Washington (–0.3 point each); and California and New Jersey (–0.2 point each). Vermont had the only significant over-the-month unemployment rate increase (+0.2 percentage point). The remaining 43 states and the District of Columbia had jobless rates that were not measurably different from those of a month earlier.

Thirty-four states and the District of Columbia had statistically significant jobless rate changes over the year, all of which were decreases. The largest of these occurred in South Carolina (–2.5 percentage points), Nevada (–2.3 points), and Illinois (–2.1 points). The remaining 16 states had rates that were not appreciably different from those of a year earlier.

These data are from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program. Data for the most recent month are preliminary and subject to revision. To learn more, see “Regional and State Employment and Unemployment — June 2014” (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-14-1311.